perfection of godtitle> <X-SAS-WINDOW TOP=25 BOTTOM=477 LEFT=4 RIGHT=534> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <center><b><font face="Arial Narrow">Copyright Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D. 1992</font></b></center> <br><b><font face="Arial Narrow"></font></b> <p>01500 <br> <br> <p>GOD IS PERFECT <br> <br> <p>God is perfect or complete in all, and deficient in nothing. He has no flaws, He has no chips, and He has no hidden imperfections. He is as gold perfectly refined, with no impurities. He is perfect in all of His attributes. <br> <br> <p>Let us look at some of the areas where God's perfection is seen. <br> <br> <p>God's knowledge is perfect: Job. 37:16 mentions that He is "perfect in knowledge." There is nothing that He does not know, and there is no defect in that knowledge. So, don't think that when you step into that little secret sin that He won't notice, or that He will forget. His knowledge of our sin is perfect, His knowledge of your thoughts is perfect, and His knowledge of your deeds is perfect. <br> <br> <p>God's will is perfect: Rom. 12:2, "...ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Now, when you have gained knowledge of His will for your life, you don't need to second guess it, you don't need to worry about it, and you don't need to worry about opposition. His will is perfect and you only need to follow it. <br> <br> <p>God's law is perfect: Ps. 19:7, "The law of the Lord is perfect....." The Word is our guide for life. It is there to help us through the problems and trials of time. If we go to it, then we have perfect guidance, for It is perfect. <br> <br> <p>God's way is perfect: Ps. 18:30, "As for God, his way is perfect....." The only way to God is through Jesus Christ the Lord. That is the perfect way to God. God's paths, or way, is always correct and perfect, be it the way He is taking you or the way He is leading you. All His ways are perfect and complete. <br> <br> <p>God's work is perfect: Deut. 32:4, ".....his work is perfect....." What He has done in your life is perfect. What He wants to do in your life is perfect. What He will do in your life is perfect. So, why do we feel that we are inadequate, inferior, and ill prepared? Why can't we be satisfied with His perfect work in us? We are just the way He wanted us. Proper looks, shape, hair, eyes, mentality and personality. This is not to say that He can't change some of these items if He should desire, but He did a perfect work in you as you are at this point. <br> <br> <p>God's gifts are perfect: James 1:17 , "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above....." So, If you are a good evangelist, don't covet the good preacher or teacher their gifts. He gave the gift that He wanted you to have and it is perfect. Indeed, every gift is perfect, even if it is money, talent, spouse, education etc. <br> <br> <p>The usage of the term "perfect" in Scripture: <br> <br> <p>Old Testament usage: One of the main terms ["tamiym"] translated perfect in the Old Testament is also translated many times "without blemish" and is translated "complete" once. Complete seems to be a good definition of the term. (Lev. 23:15 = complete) This is the term used of the sacrificial lambs that were to be without blemish. God is without blemish, He is complete, and He is perfect in all that He is. <br> <br> <p>New Testament usage: Perfect is the translation of "telios." It also has the idea of complete. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament show the complete, perfection of God. <br> <br> <p>SUGGESTED PROBLEMS WITH THE DOCTRINE: <br> <br> <p>1. The same term "perfect" is used of both God and man. How can man be as perfect as God? (Noah was perfect, Gen. 6:9; Job was perfect, Job. 1:1; Satan was perfect in his original state, Ezk. 28:12.) <br> <br> <p>The answer is that created beings are held as perfect in relation to other created beings, and not God. God is a perfect being; His perfection is absolute! The term shows that the person or creation mentioned is complete and ready for operation. They are perfect in light of the perfectness that is available to them. <br> <br> <p>Only God is a perfect Being. We are perfect in our completeness to do the job. A car being moved off of the assembly line is complete and ready to roll, but the latest survey's show that if you inspect a car closely that there are usually at least twenty defects of some sort. It is a complete car, but it is not a perfect sort of car. <br> <br> <p>God's being is perfect. We are a perfect creation, but far from the classification of a perfect being. <br> <br> <p>2. Matt. 5:48 mentions that the believer is to be perfect. If the above is true, then how can man be perfect. Again, we cannot reach God's perfection, but we can achieve perfection in relation to other men. We can reach the perfection that is available to us. That perfection includes the spiritual standing that we have in Christ, the completely perfect and justified standing that we have before God because of the finished work of Christ. <br> <br> <p>That perfection includes the spiritual state - having all sin confessed and waiting for the next one to confess. This is the perfection that is available to us through Christ in this life. <br> <br> <p>The idea of Matthew is moral completeness rather than perfection. The New Testament idea is complete and ready to run. The car coming off the assembly line of a factory is complete and ready; All parts are installed and present. <br> <br> <p>God's perfection can certainly be our goal but we will not attain God's perfection because we are not purely spirit beings. <br> <br> <p>APPLICATION: <br> <br> <p>1. If He is perfect in all ways, then we can find ALL we need in Him. We need not look for fulfillment in the business world. We need not look for fulfillment in marriage. We need not look for fulfillment in the ministry. We need not look for fulfillment anywhere but in HIM! Fulfillment in these areas is not wrong but if we seek God to the best of our ability He will give us the fulfillment that He wants us to have. Matt. 6:33 mentions that He will supply all of our need. If we seek after material things we may end up with more than we need. <br> <br> <p>2. The New Testament tells the believer to seek perfection. Matt. 5:48 tells us to be perfect as the Father is perfect. Col. 1:28, commands that we are to be working for the perfection of the saints (Eph. 4:11-12 also). Jas. 1:4 tells us that we will be perfect one day. <br> <br> <p>3. Since God's will is perfect we can trust in that will when the prices are up and our income is down and nothing seems to be going right and we just know that God has made a mistake. NO! He makes no mistakes. If you are in His will and things are down, you can KNOW that it is His plan for your life! <br> <br> <p>4. If He is perfect we should be moved to follow Him explicitly in our lives to gain the most out of our lives for Him! Our goal in life should be His perfect will for us. Nothing else should enter in to our decisions - only following His leading. <br> <br> <p>5. If He is perfect then we know man can never be perfect, so we SHOULD grow to tolerate those imperfections that bother us in our mates, our children, our pastors, our teachers, our neighbors and our co-workers. <br> <br> <p>6. We are all in the process of becoming perfect. Paul mentions that he isn't perfect yet in Phil. 3:11,12. NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU ARE, YOU ARE NOT PERFECT. NOT EVEN IF YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE. God can improve on you if you allow Him to work. <br> <br> <p>7. We should realize we are all perfect (completed) in His eyes through Christ and that the new Christian is as perfect as the mature Christian - thus we have no grounds for feeling inferior or superior about our spiritual position. <br> <br> <p>A question came up in class one time concerning whether God can sin. We considered the possibility for a time and came to some conclusions: We didn't think He could, but that there was no real Scripture on either side that we could think of, however we drew some logical conclusions. <br> <br> <p>1. It would violate His purity. It would violate His righteousness. It would violate His holiness. <br> <br> <p>2. He could not condemn man if He were sinful. <br> <br> <p>3. The whole of Scripture would be a sham if He did sin. We know the Bible is truth and totally reliable so this would not be possible. <br> <br> <p>4. Sin was introduced by Satan - a created being - not by God. It was not present prior to Satan's fall. <br> <br> <p>5. Sin is defined thusly. Sin is rebellion against God. So how can God sin? The creator can do anything he wants, but the creatures can disobey the creator. A landowner can put up a sign saying keep off the grass. Anyone stepping on the grass is going against the owners wishes - except the owner. He is not bound by the sign. <br> <br> <p>In conclusion, God is perfect, so how can He sin and have imperfections? He cannot. <br> <br> <p>GOD IS INFINITE <br> <br> <p>The term infinite only appears in scripture once in Ps. 147:5, "Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite." The term seems to have the idea in the Hebrew of without number. (This is Strong's word number 4557 "mis-pawr") The term is used in purely mathematical thought of number, or is also used to tell of God's wonders that are without number. Ps. 40:5 mentions that His thoughts and works are so many that we can't number them. <br> <br> <p>Another term you may find is "immensity." Immense according to Webster is, ".....marked by greatness esp. in size or degree; esp: transcending ordinary means of measurement....." (By permission. From Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary copyright 1991 by Merriam-Webster Inc., publisher of the Merriam-Webster (registered) Dictionaries.) <br> <br> <p>What is the difference between immensity and omnipresence? Immensity is the size or extent while omnipresence is the fact that He is everywhere, or his presence if you will. <br> <br> <p>Infinite has two directions of definition. First, He is in size, limitless. Secondly, He is in characteristics, limitless to the extent of his attributes and nature. <br> <br> <p>He may be limited by some of his attributes. For example we saw that His power was limited in that He cannot act inconsistently with Himself. He cannot make a rock too big to lift. In this sense He has limitations within His attributes, however not in His size. <br> <br> <p>He is limitless. It is not that we don't know His limits, but that He is truly limitless. <br> <br> <p>Theissen says, "By the immensity of God we mean His infinity in relation to space." (Thiessen, Henry C.; "LECTURES IN SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY"; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1949,p 122) <br> <br> <p>REFERENCES YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER: I Ki. 8:27, II Chr. 2:6, Jer. 23:24, Job. 11:7-9, Ps. 139:7ff, Isa. 66:1, Acts 17:28. <br> <br> <p>POSSIBLE PROBLEMS: <br> <br> <p>1. Does the person that rejects Christ diminish God's mercy? Does the person that rejects Christ diminish any of God's attributes? NO! That person rejects and refuses to accept those perfect gifts of mercy, grace and salvation that have been set before him. God is not diminished in any way! <br> <br> <p>2. Ps. 78:41 mentions, "Yea, they turned back and tested God, and limited the Holy one of Israel." How do we answer this statement if we say that God is infinite and that man cannot diminish God? They limited what God could do for them but they set no limit on God as such. His attributes, character and nature were unaffected. He could not do the great things that He wanted to do for them. <br> <br> <p>3. Some suggest that man is infinite as well. Job. 22:5 mentions that man's sins are infinite. The thought being that, if we can sin infinitely, we must be infinite in other ways. WRONG! This is a different word than we have been considering. Our sin is infinite for it is toward an infinite God. Our sin is infinite for we can do nothing with it in and of ourselves. Our sin is infinite for it will go on for eternity if it isn't cared for. The infinite thought is carried into hell which is for all of eternity. <br> <br> <p>APPLICATION: <br> <br> <p>1. God is infinite so as we learn of Him we can know that we can never run out of things to learn about Him. We can study for years and never know all there is to know about Him. <br> <br> <p>2. Would it be safe to assume that the attribute of infinite is why God is so longsuffering? He allows man to run on as long as His justice will allow. He is infinitely gracious, at least to the limits of His justice and righteousness. <br> <br> <p>3. He is infinite in understanding. He can understand any mixed up mess or problem that we present to Him. Sometimes I have a big truck load of facts that just boggle my mind and I have a terrible time figuring out all the details of the mess. He instantly knows all of the ins and outs of such messes and has no problem in understanding. He is the one to go to when you have a mess that you can't sort out! <br> <br> <p>4. I wonder if this does not relate to the infinite types and looks of people. We are created in His image. He would have infinite creativity. I can be very pleased and thankful that I am one of a kind. <br> <br> <br> <br> </body> </html>